Thursday, December 01, 2016

Thankful Thursday

This week in church our pastor talked about this study in the Globe and Mail called How Complaining Rewires Your Brain for Negativity. To summarize: complaining is unhealthy for you and impairs your hippocampus (problem solving), it releases cortisol (stress hormone) and when you spend time with a  complainer it is almost just as bad.  One way to combat this is to have an attitude of gratitude as it reduces cortisol levels by 23%.



I could really use a reduction in cortisol levels so with that said, here are then things that I am thankful for this week:

1. Sibling love.  Kai is great with his younger siblings.  As an oldest child, I know it's not easy but he does a pretty good job at connecting with each one of them as they are so different in their interests and needs.


2.  Christmas decorations.  Our house isn't huge so I don't love too many decorations (clutter!) but I do love having pretty lights up.  We'll have to put up our tree this weekend.


3.  A Christmas activity with the cousins.  Kai and Koen had a great time with their cousins at Enchant.  Although it is overpriced, the lights were still cool.


4. Fun with Friends and Gilmore Girls.  I had about 10 friends over to watch the first episode "Winter" of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.  It was well done! 


5.  Playdate for Kai.  I am terrible at playdates for my kids.  Our lives are pretty crazy already and to fit this in is so tricky especially since their friends don't live very close by.  However, Kai has some great friends and I really want to foster those relationships so he had two friends over and they made pizzas, decorated this gingerbread house, and played a lot of games.  


6. Koen.  Oh, does he add spice to our family.  Is that the word? Keeps us on our toes and keeps us humble.  All the kids do, he just adds an extra dose.


7. Family time. We went to Canyon Lights at Capilano Suspension Bridge and although it was raining, the whole family enjoyed it!


8. Free Christmas cards!  I won a $125 gift card from Minted through The Cheerio Diaries and was able to purchase our Christmas cards.  Super thankful for this money saver :) Sorry, no good look at the actual card yet--going to save that for later.


9. All the kids in Sunday School.  It's a bit nuts that our only date seems to be the 45 minutes in church while the kids are all in Sunday School but I'm thankful they are all happy in their classes (many, many years we would be with them in the nursery or classrooms).  We need a real date though!  

10.  Cosmic bowling with the cousins. Every year we go bowling as a whole extended family and the kids love it.  It's only the kids that bowl because they take up the two lanes.  Love that the four-year-olds could do it themselves this year!  Terrible photo but you get the idea.


11. SkyZone fun with Nya and Kai.  We've actually gone twice in two weeks (bring your SkyZone socks the next time for $3 off) and they love it. Gary had the other two at home so it was super easy for me!


This week wasn't my favourite with a compromised Mastercard, multiple trips to Lifelabs, and one trip to the medical clinic for a kid breaking out in hives, but let's decrease the cortisol (stress hormone) and think about what we are thankful for!  Feel free to comment, friends.

Love,
Louise

2 comments:

  1. #8 - I was just thinking recently that it had been a while since you had won something!! Yay!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Eeep, your cards!! So glad they've arrived and I can't wait to see them!

    ReplyDelete